Jesus is the light of the world.  That is why to open the eyes of the blind is part of the task that his Father has entrusted to him.

Jesus decides on his own to open the eyes of a man blind from birth.  The latter gets to see so clearly that he recognizes him to be a prophet.  He later believes in him as the Son of Man.  Never mind that he knows not of what the Pharisees claim they know for sure.  It is enough for him that he passes the Teacher’s scrutiny.

And as he does open the eyes of the blind, Jesus also means to open our eyes.  For he suggests that we should see much more than just blindness or what we think is its cause.  We are not to let our wish to know who is to blame hinder us from seeing what is there.

Nor should we fail to notice God’s works due to preconceived ideas we have in store.  After all, who knows really but God, for instance, who is just and who is a sinner?

And we have to open our eyes to the grace that even sin and physical evils may occasion.  For do we not say time and again that every cloud has a silver lining?  And does not grace increase all the more where sin increases?

Open to Jesus

Yes, Jesus, who sees as God, wants us who say we follow him to “see with his eyes, to feel with his sensibilities, to judge with his values.”  This means, among other things, that we should not be so very sure of ourselves.  Of the ideas we hold dear, of the ways we think and speak, especially of God and his ways.  Of how we see and treat those who suffer, given that, like Job, we do not know as God does.  By being so very sure we run the risk of excluding others, while our Teacher wants all to be one.

No, we cannot claim to know it all.  We are not to say we see, or we end up remaining in sin.  It is better for us to admit that we are weak, poor, blind.  And to ask Jesus in prayer, “What would you do if you were in my place” (SV.EN XI:314).  Better for us, too, to let him scrutinize us.  For he will surely help us so that may eat and drink from the table of his word and of his body and blood.

Lord Jesus, let us open our whole being to you, so that we may be like you in the way we see, feel and judge.

19 March 2023
Fourth Sunday of Lent (A)
1 Sam 16, 1b. 6-7. 10-13a; Eph 5, 8-14; Jn 9, 1-41